


Just Another Day

by pandiibutt



Category: DCU Animated, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-24
Updated: 2012-12-24
Packaged: 2017-11-22 06:02:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/606586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pandiibutt/pseuds/pandiibutt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artemis comes home from a day at the university and comes to a realization about Wally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Can be viewed here[ on Tumblr](http://frostiibutt.tumblr.com/post/24559501445/just-another-day)

”Hey, I’m home.” 

Dropping her book bag onto the floor with a resounding thud, Artemis makes her way around carelessly tossed red sneakers. Grinning up at her was Wally with a gigantic sandwich that looked as if it containes the entire package of sliced turkey. Narrowing her eyes at the thought of going back to the grocery store, Artemis plops herself down beside the speedster. Snuggling herself right up against his warmth, she presses her face against a firm shoulder and takes in the smell of charcoal and Wally. 

”Bad morning?”

Groaning, Atremis pushes her face harder against Wally’s left shoulder. Feeling his arm shift, she lets Wally pull her up against his chest and onto his lap. 

”Wanna talk about it?”

Shaking her head, Artemis nuzzles her way into the crook of his freckled neck. A comfortable silence blankets them as Artemis was content with just sitting there, Wally’s warmths surrounding her; the low buzz of the television playing as Wally watches some bizarre cartoon show.

These were the moments that Artemis cherishes. The contemplative quietness that Wally let’s her have when she’s stressed or just having an off day. Usually, Wally would be chatting her ear off about anything and everthing that occured around him in the spand on a single day. Most days she relishes him talking about inane things. Having come from a household where the people inside rarely talked to each other, it was a nice change. However, today was just another one of those days where listening to Wally talk would just be another chore. 

Grinning, Artemis wonders to herself just when did her speedster became so perceptive to her needs?

Wait. Her speedster. When had that happen? 

Pulling herself away from the warmth, Artemis look up at Wally’s face. She takes in the freckles that scatter themselves across the bridge of his nose, the small cut on his jaw from a resent scuffle with his razer, and the glint of his green eyes as he blinks down at her. 

”Is… there mustard on my face?”

Green. They weren’t anything like her own dull grey irises. Those green eyes were always bright with optimism. Always smiling. Always looking at her with a certain warmth in them. 

”Artemis?”

Wrapping her arms around his shoulders, Atremis presses her forhead back against Wally’s neck to hide the sudden heat that scrawls up her neck; no matter that it wouldn’t have been visible through her tan skin. 

”…Em yêu anh.”

”What was that?”

Pulling herself away and off of Wally, Artemis trails her hand from his shoulders to his cheek, running her thumb across the array of freckles. 

”Nothing. Just mumbling to myself.”

Dropping her hand from his face, she turns and makes her way to their bedroom while pulling the hair tye that held up her pony tail. Running a hand through her long tresses, she closes the door on his curious face. Tossing herself onto the bed, Artemis decides that an impromtu nap was in order. Right before she dozes off, she whispers to the ceiling the words she had murmured earlier.

”… I love you.”


	2. Language

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Wally ponders over words.

That phrase. Something about the way that Artemis said it, it piqued his interest. Why had she said it in another tongue? A language that she knew Wally wouldn’t understand. English, French, and basic Latin; those were the languages Wally knew. What could she have said, that she wanted so bad to say, but didn’t have the courage to say it?  
Ridiculous right? Artemis, a coward, but she always had her moments.

Like those times where she woke up in the middle of the night screaming. Sometimes they were about her dad trying to kill her mom, or her sister always evading her much like her namesake. Other times it was a recount of how she died during that training simulation. Rarely, but the most devastating for her, was when she dreamed of him dying. She never said it exactly, but the way she clung to Wally after was well, a dead give away. 

That phrase though, it just kept repeating in his head for months. Months until he finally caved and tried thinking of ways to figure out what it meant. He tried the first thing that came to mind; Googling. What did she say? Aim you aang? Am ew anne? He didn’t quite know. He did know that it was Vietnamese, that much was true. After hearing her mumbling to herself in deep thought and quietly listening to her sing a kind of lullaby, he knew it had to be Vietnamese. So he did the next best thing. He tried learning the actual language. 

Which was hard, thank you very much. It had almost the exact same alphabet as the English language, but about a dozen kinds of accents to accentuate the vowels and consonants to sound like something else. Plus there was the fact that any one word can mean something totally different if you change the accents. Wally still sometimes couldn’t wrap his head around how ‘Dad’, ‘Old lady’, and the number ‘Three’ could be spelled with different accents, said with different fluctuations of the vowels, and still be spelled with the same two letters. Same with ‘Mom’, ‘Ghost’, and ‘but’. It was just damn confusing. 

One day though, in need of amusement, Wally decides to look up how to say I love you in Vietnamese. He smiles to himself, maybe he would say it one day when the timing felt right. After he perusing his notes on accents and inflections, it finally clicks. These words were the same ones that Artemis had said to him so many months ago. After all this time, he finally solves the little mystery he had been pondering over. 

She said she loved him? Oh god. Oh goodness. Holy cheese balls. 

Wally starts to buzz with anxious energy. What should he do? Not that he hadn’t been meaning to say the exact same words to her for some time. However, to find out that she said it to him without him even understanding the words that came out of her mouth? That secretive mysterious woman. A small smile made itself known on his lips. 

-

It wasn’t until after two midterms does Wally builds up the courage to sort of confront Artemis about her mind games. 

He was sitting on the kitchen table watching Artemis pitter patter around as she prepares dinner. Wally was supposed to help, but as per usual he ends up sitting at the table ‘to stop taking up space’ and ‘to stop being a human vacuum.’ Watching Artemis is something that Wally likes to refer to as his new hobby. Whenever he could, he would try to watch Artemis while she was unaware. It was during those moments where he would notice the way that a little crease would appear between her eyebrows when she really had to think about something, or when she would constantly rub her nose during allergy seasons to the point that her nose was constantly red, the only color he ever sees on her face unless it was one of those rare moments where he could make her flush to the point that it could be noticed through her skin. 

Her nose would be red right now if he looked. Yep, red as his middle name. Smiling to himself, he gets up front the table and comes up behind Artemis. Wally slumps down so that he could wrap his arms around her middle, being mindful of her hands which were cutting up some mushrooms, and place his chin on her shoulder. 

Wincing, Artemis tries to roll him off her shoulder, “Wally, your chin is pointy as hell. Get it off me.”

In retaliation Wally starts rubbing his chin along her shoulder and up her neck. Artemis shrieks and, fortunately, drops the knife in order to turn around and shove at Wally’s face. “Oh my god! Get out, get out, get out!” 

Instead of heeding her words, he wraps his arms around her so that her arms are trapped against the side of her body and squeezes her in a one sided hug. He heaves with a huge sigh and sort of collapses on Artemis, not enough to send them onto the floor but enough for her to feel his weight. As a counterweight Artemis reaches around and grips at the back of Wally’s shirt and presses her face against his collarbone. 

“What’s on your mind, ya big lug?” 

Contemplating his words, Wally decides to say the first thing on his mind. 

“Em yeu anh.”

Artemis jerks back and looks into those cool green orbs. “Where did you hear that phrase from?” she asks. 

“From you and the internet.”

Scoffing and shoving his face enough to get him off of her, Artemis places her hands on her cocked hips and looks at Wally with a raised eyebrow. “No wonder,” she says turning around to continue chopping at the mushrooms, “You just called yourself a girl.” 

“What?!” Wally exclaims. 

Indignant, Wally goes back to the table only to slump over in a chair and continues watching Artemis pitter patter her way around the kitchen. His head on his arms, Wally smiles to himself and thinks that soon he’ll ask her to marry him. Maybe he’ll ask Dick for some jewelry recommendations and to spot him a couple thousand. Artemis would certainly kill him if he picks something that she deems ugly and knowing himself Wally probably would. He wasn’t known to be very perceptive in that aspect, but luckily for him he had a woman like Artemis in his life. A beautiful woman who doesn’t mind his shortcomings. So when Artemis glances back at him with a smile, Wally smiles back with as much warmth as he felt in his heart. 

Yes definitely, he’ll ask her tonight.

**Author's Note:**

> After reading a post containing multiple ways of saying I love you I wanted to write about Artemis and her ethnic side. So I started with this piece and am still thinking of playing around with the idea, at least to create a better understanding of my own culture. Fun little note, it was this moment that I kind of liked this couple together. I like them written by the fans, but just not the way that they're portrayed through the show itself.


End file.
